Chapter Text
*"I used to be in a band with Yui Hirasawa when I was in high school."*
It was one of the few truths in that movie based on a manga that some girls didn't even know existed. The movie was faithful to the manga, but the manga distorted their story. The Ho-kago Teatime band had disbanded years ago and a reunion was difficult. However, a manga was written by an anonymous author, and a film adaptation was made. It wouldn't take them long to find out what was going on...
The time the girls went to buy a guitar at the 10GIA music store was one of the most memorable moments of high school. When Yui saw the Gibson Les Paul Standard, it was love at first sight. She didn't know much about instruments yet, but all that mattered was that it was cute. Mio tried to explain that the guitar was too big for someone like Yui to carry, but Yui had already approached the guitar, dazzled by its appearance.
"That guitar is cute!" Yui exclaimed.
"But it's too expensive!" Ritsu said, looking at the price of 250,000 yen, "It's better to find one for 50,000 yen!"
"I want this one, but... But I can't afford it..." Yui said, disappointed.
"So, you want this guitar, Yui-san?" Tsumugi asked.
"I want this one, but... But I can't afford it..." Yui said, disappointed.
"Then you want this guitar? I can help." Tsumugi said.
Tsumugi approached the store manager, Inoue. Without any of them noticing, a hooded man sees the entire conversation ever since the girls started talking about buying the guitar. The other girls watched Tsumugi approach Inoue, who recognized her at once.
"You're the daughter of the company president!" Inoue exclaimed louder than he should have.
"Excuse me," Tsumugi said, embarrassed at being recognized, "I was wondering if you could give me a discount on that guitar." "That Gibson Les Paul Standard? I think I can sell it for 50,000!"
"Thank you..." Tsumugi thanked her, but heard her cell phone ringing and answered it hastily, "What do you want now, Saito? I'm quite busy!"
The other girls barely had time to rejoice over the purchase and process Tsumugi's change of mood when the hooded man approached Tsumugi. The man tried to grab Tsumugi's cell phone, but she recoiled and he fell to his knees. Tsumugi moved away to join the other girls, just as surprised as they were. Meanwhile, Inoue activated the alarm.
"W-what is that?" Mio asked, startled.
"Ew, he looks drunk!" Ritsu exclaimed.
"You!" the drunken man glared at Inoue, "I'm the one who gave you a job, and not only did you report me, but you enjoy being a doormat for the Kotobuki family!"
"Sir, you're not welcome here," Inoue said, “Now wait for the security guards to arrive!"
"And what kind of store sells a 250,000-yen guitar for 50,000 yen?" the man said, trying to stand up. "Actually, it should be worth about 20,000,000 yen!"
"What?" Yui exclaimed surprised, "But all our allowances together don't even amount to half of that!"
"I don't think you should try to reason with that drunkard, Yui!" Ritsu said.
"Can't pay?" the man said, looking at Yui. "Then you're a thief, and to make up for it, you need... You need..."
The man stumbled as he tried to get up when the security guards arrived. The guards dragged the drunken man away, who shouted incomprehensible things. After he was removed from the store, the girls looked at Inoue in confusion.
"That man used to work here, but he tried to behave inappropriately with the customers, and that's why he was fired. “Inoue explained, "I'm sorry for the confusion!"
"But how much does Giita really cost?" Yui said, turning her attention back to the guitar.
"You haven't even bought it yet and you're already giving it a nickname?" Ritsu said casually.
"I hope that weirdo doesn't come back..." Mio said perturbed, looking at the entrance of the store.
"As I said before, I think I can lower the price to 50,000 yen!" Inoue said.
"Oh, thank you for fulfilling our request," Tsumugi said kindly.
Yui got her guitar and the girls left the store without any further problems.
A year passed with them practicing music, studying, and eating tea and cake until Azusa joined the group. Although the girls were a year older than Azusa and she respected them, she had critical thoughts. Mio was serious and hardworking, Ritsu seemed more interested in having fun than improving, Tsumugi was good at classical piano and still had to adapt to the keyboard style while Yui... She had a strange combination of having clear potential but somehow seemed to be lazier. However, they worked together very well most of the time.
"Yui-senpai, I wrote this score for you..." Azusa said, handing her a piece of paper.
"Not that weird spell!" Yui said, stepping back like a vampire before the dawn light, "It would be better if you played it, then I'll copy you!"
Azusa felt a mixture of admiration and disappointment. Yui would never have learned the normal way, but she still believed in her as a role model. Yui took one of their Les Pauls and started practicing with Azusa. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was heating the tea, and Ritsu noticed Mio writing on a piece of paper.
"What is this, Mio-chan?"
"I-I wrote a new score!"
"Can we listen to it?"
Mio knew it was only a matter of time; after all, no matter how much tea they drank and cake they ate, this was a music club. And seeing Yui making the minimum effort to play so well awakened in her own desire to improve. It wasn't every day that she behaved like this, so it was best to act now. Mio stood up when Yui finished and showed her the lyrics. And then she played them on her bass guitar. As soon as Mio finished playing the music, satisfied with her own performance, the girls praised it.
"Not bad, I liked it!" Ritsu said.
"But there could be some improvements!" Yui said enthusiastically.
Yui went to the paper on the table and rewrote some letters. Mio couldn't help but be surprised by Yui's frankness and impulsiveness, but she soon finished making the changes. Yui played Mio’s music at once, but in a more refined version. Mio stared at her with the same expression she had when Tsumugi stole strawberries from her slice of cake, and she felt a mixture of admiration and disbelief at her audacity. Naturally, Yui was so oblivious that she played the song again, but Ritsu knew Mio very well.
"Hey, Mio-chan, you know she's not malicious, right?" Ritsu commented.
Just like in the strawberry incident, a small tear rolled down Mio's cheek. But deep down she knew she shouldn't take it personally; after all, they were a band. Not competing. She regained her composure when she heard Tsumugi say that the tea was ready, so this time she ate her cake a little apart from the others. Mio didn't want to make a scene, especially not in front of Azusa, but she had noticed Mio's discomfort.
Months later, they went on a trip to the beach. The idea was to train, but they also wanted to relax. The day was sunny and perfect for a stroll on the beach, so Yui and Ritsu wasted no time. They ran onto the sand, ignoring Mio's protests that they had come to practice. The two spent a good amount of time playing in the water before resting on the sand. The daze of amusement was replaced by a tranquility, hearing nothing but the sound of waves. Ritsu raised her hand to the sun as if reflecting on life, then Yui asked an unexpected question:
"Ricchan, why can people enter the onsen without clothes, but not the private beach?"
"Why are you asking something like that?" Ritsu asked, confused.
"I remember seeing this beach on the news," Yui explained, looking at Ritsu, "Apparently, there were people here treating the place like a nudist beach... So, I thought, why do some beaches allow clothes and others don't?"
Ritsu frowned at the idea that the Kotobuki family's restricted beach might have been used for some kind of extravagant party. Not only did they have two enormous houses, but Tsumugi had relatives like that. Ritsu had the impression that she was forgetting something. At a distance, Mio and Azusa watched them from afar.
"It's impressive how relaxed Yui seems," Mio commented casually, "But she can play better than me!"
"But even so, we should all practice because none of us are perfect!" Azusa replied.
Mio felt relieved that at least she was treated as an equal, not someone whose effort yielded less results than someone who seemed to practice much less. She looked at Ritsu and Yui rising from the sand to see something coming from the horizon. On the horizon, it was possible to see the cruise ship approaching like a point, its shape becoming increasingly defined. Tsumugi approached Mio and Azusa, who then decided to approach Yui and Ritsu, who was still focused on the ship.
"Look, this is a cruise ship!" Yui exclaimed to Ritsu.
"I think they could use binoculars to see us from there, so it's best not to have strange ideas like exposing ourselves completely," Ritsu said jokingly.
"Do you think they could hear us from there? We could shout that we want privacy?"
"I don't think they could hear us that far away..."
"If there are binoculars to see, would there be an equivalent to hear?"
"What are you two plotting now?" Mio asked suspiciously as she approached them.
"Oh, it's nothing..." Ritsu tried to be discreet.
"We were talking about why we can't remove bikinis on private beaches, but we can remove everything at hot springs." Yui replied promptly.
"Oh, ordinary people do things like that too?" Tsumugi said, widening her eyes, "My family never allowed me to do such things, but I heard that some rich people do things like that, and it never occurred to me that ordinary people do it too."
"That's enough, "Mio exclaimed, blushing, "I don't know exactly where this is going, but I didn't get involved in this!"
"I just asked a question, I didn't say anything out of line!" Yui said, confused.
While the four of them chatted, Azusa watched her senpai and couldn't help but think that they talked a lot about anything except delving into music the way she wanted. She couldn't even understand how they had stayed together as a band for a year. And now they were talking about strange things that seemed to come straight out of one of those rock band movies that explored every eccentricity possible in the world of music.
She knew the music industry was cruel and unpredictable, but it wasn't like they were a band of college girls hitting the road in search of adventure; they were high school girls. And then Azusa had an epiphany and intervened.
"Girls, I think it's Sawako-sensei's fault, she pressures us about how we should dress," Azusa said, and the girls looked at her confused, "But deep down we want to be uninhibited in our own way, but the truth is there's always someone watching and judging us, like those people on cruises..."
A moment of silence left Azusa embarrassed for taking the conversation too seriously. It was as if she had a moment of inspiration to reveal ancient wisdom, only to realize it wasn't that profound. Luckily for her, Yui broke the silence with her casual and enthusiastic tone:
"Azu-nya, I have another question in mind."
"Please, let it be music-related..." Azusa murmured.
"Ricchan and I have been here for an hour, and you just arrived, but how come you're more tanned than us?"
"W-what?!" Azusa exclaimed in surprise upon realizing this.
Ritsu had had a long day as manager of a postal company, and the last thing she expected when she turned on the television was to see an advertisement for a new film based on real events. Ritsu had had a long day as manager of a postal company, and the last thing she expected when she turned on the television was to see an advertisement for a new film based on real events. Memories flooded her mind when she saw it was about Ho-kago Teatime. But the fact that they were producing a film about them without her knowledge intrigued her.
The characters seemed similar to them, but something was wrong. Not only were there many dramatic pauses with scenes fading to black, but the teaser showed them going to the store, then showing Yui and herself being accused of theft and going to the store owner's office. It also showed the band having fun on the beach, completely uninhibited. There were happy scenes that were more consistent with what happened, but there were texts emphasizing that they had a dark and painful life. Then the trailer showed a man who seemed familiar to Ritsu, explaining that he had contact with the band and knew what they were really like.
The door to the room opened and Mio entered, returning from her office where she had worked on yet another music article. The trailer was still playing, but Mio didn't seem as surprised as Ritsu. As if that wasn't enough, they were even more surprised at the end of the trailer when a text appeared saying that she was in memoriam. And then it showed Yui's face in a black and white image. The trailer ended and switched to another program, but Ritsu was confused by everything she had just seen.
"Mio, could it be true that..."
"No, it's not possible because I just spoke to her on the phone," Mio exclaimed, "By the time a movie is made in her memory, we would have already received news if something like that happened to her!"
"But she's been missing for a few months..." Ritsu said, turning off the television.
"No, Tsumugi called me from England and said she was at her house."
"England?" Ritsu said, surprised. "All this time? Is she okay?"
"Yes, Yui also warned Azusa and also asked me if I participated in the script for this movie loosely based on us." Mio said, annoyed.
"Even she already knows about this?" Ritsu said, feeling relieved. "And I'm not surprised she thinks you would help with a movie about us, since you've wanted to write a biography about us for a long time."
"Ah, I've been watching recordings of our high school days..." Mio said nostalgically.
"Unfortunately, no matter how much you watch, our life will never be as relaxing as it was back then." Ritsu said resignedly.
"But at least we have experience throughout..." Mio said, but stopped.
"What is it?"
"I think I know what the movie is based on, but I kind of tried to forget about it... You know, that manga your brother found back in college?"
"Oh, is that it?"
Mio and Ritsu had some not-so-pleasant memories, but nothing compared to exactly what that showed. But at least they knew Yui was okay. And soon they would unravel the origin of this movie. It wasn't the first time, nor the last, that they would face unpredictable problems of adult life, especially having previously been in a popular band, but as someone once said...Keep calm and carry on!